The Meeting
by Nevaeh717
Summary: Maya, Daniel, and Corey are on the search for Christopher Bae, after being sent his name from Rafe for help in defeating the Cabal that's been hunting them down. In Buffalo, the trio runs into familiar faces from the files on Project Genisis II. Between Maya and Chloe, read the adventure as they work together to take down the Edison Group for good. post/ The Calling.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I don't own any of Kelley Armstrong's characters or ideas. **

** So, this is my first fanfic for this series, and I have wanted to write a fic for it for a while now but couldn't think of anything to write on. Then I realized that there wasn't a single fic written on Kelley's other series, Darkness Rising. This series is just like Darkest Powers, but with different experiments :)**

** Hopefully, for anyone that's read both of these series you'll like it, and if you haven't read them (The Gathering, The Calling) I think you'll appreciate this story as well. **

**This story starts on Maya, Daniel, and Corey's journey to find Christopher Bae.**

**WARNING: If you have not read the Darkness Rising series, there will be spoilers!**

***.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**

_The Meeting_

"Maya, you've always been the smartest girl I know, not to mention the hottest," Corey was quickly rewarded with a punch to the arm from Daniel before continuing, "but this has to be the stupidest idea you've ever had. And that trumps that time you climbed a cliff to save a marten."

I stopped walking, making Daniel run into my back, both of us stumbling. Corey had been complaining of coming to Buffalo most of the day already. I'd already told him to stuff it. Twice. "Corey, baby, if you're too scared we could just leave you here and let the scary scientists come and kidnap you." I smiled sweetly, letting him know I was teasing. In case the baby voice wasn't enough for him. I earned a sickly sweet grin myself before we started walking down the deserted sidewalk again. Daniel seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when Corey stopped talking for a few minutes.

"Why doesn't Maya just shift and sniff out this Bae dude?" the sigh of relief turned into a groan of exasperation. "I mean, wouldn't this go faster? Not to mention, it'd be safer than walking around in the open."

"Corey, man, chill. Maya's just as tired as we are, I don't think her shifting will help very much." Daniel told his friend, and Corey nodded his head, continuing on his way. I looked over at Daniel who was watching Corey with a frown. "Did you just do your control thing again?" I whispered to him, and he nodded slowly.

"Dude, let's move. I gotta take a piss, hopefully this Bae guy lives somewhere with a toilet." I cringed as I followed my friends again, following now instead of leading.

"Yes, exactly what we need, Corey running into some strangers house to pee, and ending up getting his, uh, _head_ cut off." Daniel muttered to himself, but I caught it and giggled.

"I can just hear the conversation, 'Uh, hi, Mr. Bae? Yeah, we're lost teenaged experiments that are supposed to have died in a helicopter crash, but are now being hunted down by crazy scientists. We were wondering if we could use your bathroom.'" I dropped my voice as I said this, making myself sound so fake, I couldn't help but to laugh by the time I finished. Daniel chuckled along with me, but Corey just glared at us. "Shut up, both of you." A few more sputtered laughs followed him as he stormed away.

At least, he tried to storm away, but once he was a few feet away from us, he froze in the middle of the sidewalk, and was snatched by a huge dark mass of something. Both Corey and the dark thing disappeared into the bushes.

"Corey!" I yelped and barreled into the bushes, with Daniel not far behind. I realized what a bad idea that was when I felt fingers grab at my wrist as soon as the bushes moved back to hide our position, "Hell! Let go!" I yanked as hard as I was able, sending whom ever had been holding me, flying past Daniel's head. He was quick to grab them and yank their hands behind their back, immobilizing them completely. Once I was sure he was okay, I looked around to find Corey and his kidnapper. Daniel's startled yell had me looking back again to see him flying back, and the person I thought was caught had shocked him back, and was standing, ready to take him on again.

Okay, apparently they would have been immobilized if they hadn't been a spell caster. Meaning we were definitely dealing with a witch or sorcerer. "Maya!" Corey's voice was to my left, but it was muffled, meaning he was off a lot worse than Daniel. "Trees!" I looked up immediately. And then wished I hadn't. A knocked out Corey was now lying against a heavy branch beside a large, black wolf. I froze entirely, trying to figure out what to do at the same time wondering how the hell that wolf had even climbed so high.

He didn't seem to be having the same problem, and had launched himself down onto the ground beside me, glaring at me with large gleaming green eyes. Wait, green? Since when do wolves have green eyes? "Werewolf," I whispered to myself, mentally preparing myself to what I'd have to do. Unfortunately for me, I had no idea how to do what I needed on my own yet. Also, the huge wolf was staking closer to me. _Okay, breathe Maya, just breathe. Think of paws, think of your tail. _I kind of felt like an idiot talking to myself about my tail, but it seemed to work.

Without warning, my back arched out and I fell to the ground. When my head hit the dirt, I blacked out for a moment, but once I opened my eyes again, I could see _everything_. My vision was incredible, even in the dark shadows made by the bushes. I could see my muzzle and the long thick whiskers sprouting from my fur. Holy crap. I did it!

I sat up from my stomach to see the big black wolf in front of me looking at me incredulously. His eyes were even brighter, and I could sense his uncertainty. Standing proudly on my thick muscled legs, I let out a grumbling wail, warning him to back off. He did, but then stood his ground and growled back, showing me his teeth. Another warning wail ripped from my throat, this one louder, more threatening. A choked sound came from behind me, but I didn't turn, even though my ears pricked at the sound. The wolf though, stopped our standoff immediately, backing up a bit.

"Thank you. Please, go and Change. We'll be here." Now I turned. Daniel was standing behind me, watching the wolf in front of me with hard eyes. Damn, suddenly I really was jealous of this weird unknown power. The person Daniel had been grappling with was underneath his arm in a chokehold. Obviously, this was a big factor on why the wolf had stopped in the first place, but I'm sure the only reason he left was because of the strange persuasion thing Daniel ad discovered he had. He had no idea he was able to do it, or what it really was, as no one had ever told him. Also the same people that never told me I could Change into a cougar. But hey, everyone has their secrets, right? Ours was just entirely life changing and strange as hell.

"Hey, ease up will you, muscles?" the person Daniel was holding choked out, and my eyes flickered back to them. Daniel did let up a little, but kept his arm around her neck, effectively trapping both hands as well making sure no more surprise spells were coming any time soon. The girl, witch, struggled a little farther, but soon gave up and just hung from Daniel's thick arm.

"Maya, you can shift back too. And grab Corey form the tree." I tried an awkward nod and moved to the large tree that Corey was hanging in. I could feel the girl's eyes on me, but I ignored them as I launched from my haunches onto the middle of the tree's tall trunk, half way to Corey after the one leap. "Jesus," looking over my shoulder, I noticed the wolf was back. Well, the guy who had been a wolf. He was huge, to say the least. And practically naked due to the quick Change. Shaking my head at myself, I continued up the tree, towards Corey, who was coincidentally waking up. When he saw me creeping closer to him on the branch, he shot up to a sitting position, his heart rate accelerating immediately. I chuckled the best I could in my new body, but it mostly came out as a raspy, 'I have a hairball coming' gasp. Continuing down the branch, I stalked up to Corey's face, revelling in his fear, until I was eye to eye with him. And then I winked. The fear disappeared from his face, and his shoved my face away.

"You are a bitch, Maya Delaney. I almost died!" I chortled and nudged his hand with my face. He seemed to understand and stood up, using my back as a handle to steady himself. I shrugged him off when we reached the trunk again, and started to climb down. I stopped when I had a good grip and looked back up at Corey. Again, it seemed to read my mind and back up.

"I don't care if you're a freaking mountain climbing cat, Maya. There's no way I'm _riding _a cougar." I shrugged and started on my way back up, grabbed the back of his shirt and began climbing back down. Corey tried to change his mind halfway down and hold onto my shoulders, but I was enjoying his embarrassment to much, and kept a firm hold on the back of his shirt, the way a mother cat would do to her kittens. Once we hit the ground, I let go of Corey, but continued to drag his shirt with me, pulling it right off of him.

"Maya!" Corey cried out, realizing what I was doing, but was too late, as I'd already disappeared behind a few bushes. As I focused on Changing back, I listened to everyone else talk.

"Couldn't she have worn her own clothes?" Corey was still complaining apparently.

"They ripped when she shifted. Would you rather her come out with no clothes at all?" Daniel asked his friend. I chuckled and then realized it was my usual laugh. I checked myself over, seeing my human body back I quietly congratulated myself and then slipped into Corey's shirt. Luckily, Corey was rather large in the muscles department, so his shirt reached just above mid-thigh on me, passing off for a really short dress.

"Seriously? Was that a real question? Have you _seen_ her? Hell yeah I'd rather she come out in the nude!" Corey exclaimed, no doubt throwing his arms out in excitement. After growing up with the same people all your life, you get to know the kids your age well to know their habits. I decided now was a good time to return to their conversation. Walking out, my head held high, ready to be ridiculed for having to wear Corey's shirt. Four faces looked over at me when I cleared the bushes, and I can safely say that Corey's jaw actually dropped when he looked up my legs. After staring for a few more seconds, he nodded his head and leered at me, "although, this is a healthy alternative." I smacked his arm when I reached him, making him laugh and move over a bit.

Daniel looked just as shocked as Corey, but being my best friend; he reined it in faster, and said "I don't think I've ever seen you in anything but shorts, Maya."

I nodded and crossed my arms, and then decided it was a bad idea as soon as Corey whistled when his shirt rode up, "Probably because dresses aren't the best for climbing trees, Daniel. And you," I rounded on Corey and punched his shoulder, "stop staring at my legs!"

"Sorry!" Corey laughed, making the apology come out flat.

"May I ask to be dropped now?" The girl in Daniel's arms squeaked out, and Daniel immediately dropped her. A lot more carefully than I would have, but he still dropped her. She picked herself up, dusted off the seat of her pants and stepped over to stand a little closer to the giant wolf-man.

"I believe an explanation is in order." Daniel said calmly, and the wolf-man nodded in agreement.

"First," he rumbled out, and goose bumps shot out of my skin. That was _not_ what I thought he was going to sound like, "sorry for jumping you. But we really can't have random people walking around spouting off jokes about our situation with the Cabals." I frowned at the wolf-man and spoke up before he could continue.

"Your situation? Sorry to inform you, but we were talking about _our _situation." The wolf-man frowned as well, but the girl beside him lit up, like she just found her favourite ice cream flavour at the corner store.

"Are you from Project Phoenix?" All of our heads whipped around to stare at the girl. I took this time to look her over. She was tall, about as tall as I was, with a thin frame that resembled a model's. Her face was slight, but warm, like she wasn't the cold hearted person she seemed she was. Her hair was cut in a pixie cut, falling around her face in thick black wisps. Her face looked extremely familiar, and I figured out from what after remembering what had happened between her and Daniel during their scuffle.

"You're the witch hybrid. Victoria Enright." Now everyone was looking at me. "I read your file. Along with all of the other Project Genesis II's files." I looked over at the wolf-man now, and saw him looking slightly more relaxed like he recognized me now too. Obviously I wasn't the only one who read over those files like they were the Bible. "I assume that makes you Derek Souza." He nodded, and dropped his arms from their position on his chest. I wished he hadn't done that as soon as he did, as the motion made every yummy muscle move. _No, bad Maya. Remember you're doing this for Rafe._

"Yes, and obviously you're Maya Delaney." Derek rumbled out and I nodded, and then gestured to Daniel and Corey.

"I'm sure you heard us yell at each other already, but this is Daniel Bianchi, and Corey Carling." I noticed Victoria's eyes roam over Corey's now bare chest, whereas she completely ignored the gorgeous guy beside her. Derek nodded at the guys in recognition, and then looked back at me.

"Good to meet you all. But I really have to ask why you're all here?" Derek frowned a little, giving us all slightly confused looks. I gave Daniel a look, and caught the nervous glance Corey shot us both.

Victoria shot in with a small smile on her face before anyone could say anything, "Not that we're not happy to see you! We were actually planning to find to ourselves." I must have looked surprised, because Victoria shot me a helpful smile. Derek gave her an odd glance though, as if he couldn't believe she'd say something like that. Or something that nice, either way.

"Actually, we were looking for Christopher Bae." Derek's head whipped back over to look at Daniel, who had piped up with this important piece of information. I smiled and added with a wink at Corey, "And then happened to bump into you."

"Not my fault, you guys were making fun of me."

"Why are you looking for Kit?" Victoria asked, exchanging a glance with Derek. He looked less relaxed now, and his arms were over his chest again.

"We need help." I said bluntly, not wanting to skirt around the subject anymore. I was getting cold. "We were given Mr. Bae's name from a friend of mine before he and another friend was taken by the scientist, along with my dog." I added with a small pout, missing Kenjii like crazy. "He told me to find Christopher Bae, because he'd be able to help us, and hopefully take down this stupid science experiment." Derek seemed to agree with this and nodded.

"All right, we'll bring you with us and see what we can do to help you out." I wasn't sure what to say, so Daniel thanked him and turned to grab something from the ground. I didn't know what it was until he shoved a bunch of dirty torn fabric. Oh, right, my confetti clothing. I'm sad to say that my underwear was the worst out of the outfit, but I kept the jeans, deciding to rip them into shorts when we reached Mr. Bae. Victoria came over and looked over the mass of gross clothes and scrunched up her nose. She unbuckled her belt and pulled it through the loops, and wound it around my waist for me, cinching the large shirt around my waist, making it look less like I'd stolen someone's shirt after fumbling around in the dirt. Which I had done, but no one needed o know that. "Thanks, Victoria." She cringed and began following Derek through the trees.

"Please, call me Tori."

**Alrighty, so, I hope that was okay. It was fun to write anyways even if it wasn't the best. But I was excited to see that the site had added this series names to the Darkest Powers fandom, so I can name this story correctly! **

**I'm not sure when this story will be updated, seeing as it's my only one in this category, where I have, like, ten more in a different fandom. But I'll try really hard, because it's nice to write about something else sometimes :) **

**~Nevaeh**


	2. Chapter 2

[Chloe's POV]

"When do you think they'll be getting back?" Simon asked me for the third time since we'd lain down on the couch to watch a movie. Kit had all but shoved us down with blankets and popcorn in our laps to make us both stop pestering him about Derek and Tori. The two had left earlier, two hours earlier, to look around the small neighbourhood we had stopped in. Tori hadn't exactly gone by choice, but was on a 'time out' from Simon. We were back in Buffalo after losing the Edison Group when we brought down their lab, and had been running around as fast as we could, hoping to lose them and settle down somewhere. Technically, we had settled already, but I knew we'd be on the run once again. Call it a gut instinct.

"I have no idea, Simon. Hush and watch the movie." I threw a piece of popcorn at his head, but of course missed, and ended up throwing it over the arm of the couch.

"Nice throw."

"S-shut up." And that stupid stutter. I thought I was over that. The clock ticked to the next minute, and I held in another sigh. They definitely should have been home by now. "Where are they?"

"Oh, so I can't be a brat and ask where they are, but you can?" Simon scoffed, grabbing a handful of popcorn. I stuck my tongue out like the five year old I am.

"I'm-," the door was practically knocked off its hinges, cutting me off quickly. Simon and I looked over our shoulders, unsure if we were supposed to open it. Another pounding, but softer, obviously Tori once she starts yelling. "Simon!" I was the one to get up and answer the door, flinging it open just as Tori was going to hit again. Luckily for both of us, she stopped before punching me in the face.

"Took you long enough, Short Stuff." Tori sniffed and walked into the house, Derek following her in. He was only covered in his black jeans and holding the remains of his shirt, and what looked like another pair of jeans. It took me a moment to realize there were people outside of our door. Derek placed his hand against my back, and leaned down a little to speak quietly, "Where's dad?"

"Uh, i-in the bedroom." He smirked and cuffed my nose gently, silently gesturing for the people to come into our home. "Make yourselves at home; the living room is just around the corner." Derek pointed and I watched as a boy walked by, thankfully still clothed, barely even looking around before seating himself on the couch across from the one Simon was still sitting on. "Chloe, would you mind grabbing dad and Tori for that matter, wherever she went?" I nodded dumbly and left to search for Kit, watching as a shirtless boy, this one much taller than the last maybe even as tall and wide as Derek, walked in with a tall, gorgeous girl following behind him. I paused for a moment, shocked to see her sniff the air for a moment before nodding to herself and following Derek's lead to the living room.

* * *

[Maya's POV]

"So, some introductions would be nice I think." The boy, Simon I think Derek called him, was sitting in the corner of the large couch, a large fluffy blanket and popcorn laid out across his lap. I smirked, catching his eye as he shifted around, obviously trying to dispel the awkward silence we had created.

"We're from Project Phoenix," I started, not really expecting anyone to leap ahead and introduce themselves. The boy nodded, as if he had already figured that much out, and gestured to me to continue, like he had somewhere important to be. A smile started on my lips, not sure if I liked this guy or was just pissed at his attitude. Before I could say any names, Derek walked back in, a shirt and what looked like a pair of cut off shorts in his hands. He threw the shirt at Corey, and handed me the shorts. I took them, wary of how exactly he expected me to fit shorts that were possibly his. "Don't worry, Tori donated them from her own pile." He sat down on the harder looking armchair we had all avoided, instead sitting all together on the smaller couch in the room. I nodded, probably to myself again, making me seem like even more of a crazy person, and moved to the back side of the couch, carefully slipping on the shorts without any of the guys seeing anything.

Corey grinned at me, his arm propped against the back of the couch as he leered over the cushion at me, "No need to hide sweetheart, nothing I'm not going to see eventually." I slapped his am at the same time Daniel cuffed the back of his head. "Ass," Daniel whispered to him, as Corey rubbed both contact spots. The tiny blond girl who had answered the door earlier took that moment to arrive with Tori and an older man in her wake. She stood over to the side as Tori came in and made herself comfortable on the floor. The man looked around the room, his eyes landing on each of us in turn, including Derek and Tori.

I could instantly see the resemblance between the man and the blond boy on the couch across from us, both from some Asian descent. Probably father and son, but I had learned not to just assume things about people anymore. Looking at the man again, I saw his eyes were on me, and hadn't moved. I cleared my throat, trying and really hoping it didn't sound awkward when I spoke, "Hi, uh, Christopher Bae?" The man nodded, but did not move. I continued, as if this didn't faze me. But it did. I felt like shaking with the thought that we had walked right into a trap. "I'm Maya. Maya Delaney."

The instant release and what seemed like sadness that rushed over the man's face was startling, and the large beaming smile that followed was even stranger. "Maya," he sighed, and I frowned, unsure now how to proceed with introductions. Was he expecting us? "Yes, I'm Christopher Bae, but call me Kit, please." I nodded, relaxing into the couch cushions a little more, but still not completely comfortable.

"Were you expecting us, Kit?" Daniel took over, and I allowed it, only because I still was quite unsure about this. Kit nodded only slightly, as if he wasn't sure of the answer himself. It didn't exactly calm my nerves. Corey's either apparently, as his leg was shaking up and down at high speed, and his hand was balled up in his hair. I reached over and grabbed the last can of beer we had for him, stashed away carefully in Daniel's pocket. Ignoring the shocked face of everyone in the room, besides Daniel's who knew why they had the alcohol, and handed it to Corey, giving him the _make this one count_ face.

"Uh," Kit restarted the conversation, watching as Corey cracked open the can with shaking fingers and a pinched expression, and swung back a couple large gulps. "I knew of, someone, who may be showing up for help," He caught my attention and I sat up straighter, grasping the paper holding Kit's information.

"Name?" I asked, not supplying it myself, just in case this was part of the plan. Kit looked me right in the eyes, the colour of them almost shining with pride and amusement.

"Rafael." Now I relaxed completely, feeling Daniel loosen up as well, though because of what Kit just confirmed, or because I was no longer on pounce mode. His hand wrapped itself around mine, but I barely noticed, I was on a bit of a high.

"Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I'd still like to know names." The blond one, sitting on the couch, spoke up again. Tori looked like she wanted to smash his face in, and looked at me apologetically. I frowned, not quite sure why she apologizing. Daniel smiled and cleared his throat, "I'm Daniel Bianchi, and the drunk beside me is Corey Carling,"

"And I'm Maya." I supply again, just to cut in on Daniel. He glares at me, knowing why I had cut in with the pre supplied information.

"Nice to meet you boys," Kit chuckled gestured for Simon to say something.

"Alright, I'm Simon Bae, Kit's son." I nodded to myself, already having figured that out. "Lumberjack over there is my brother, Derek." All three of us looked over at Derek, and I'm pretty sure we all cocked our heads to the side at the same time as well. Derek rolled his eyes at us and just rumbled out, "Adopted."

"Already met you, but I like this much better than being held in a head lock. I'm Tori Enright." Tori shot us a cunning smile, and I flashed from her face to Kit's, suddenly unsure. Before I could ask anything, the small blond girl who was still standing by the doorway spoke up, interrupting my thoughts.

"And I'm Chloe Saunders." I looked over at her, finally realizing just how old she was. She really was a tiny little thing, but she looked like she was the same age as everyone else here, obviously excluding Kit. She was pretty though, with giant baby blues and a pixie straight face. The deep black die job on her hair ruined the cutesy, adorable look she had going on. It was horribly died, and faded, like it had finally been washed properly after some time of it sitting there. Dark purple bruises lay underneath her eyes, showing she hadn't been sleeping well for some time, but also gave her a ghastly undead look. And then it clicked.

"You're the necromancer." She didn't frown, or look at me like I was an idiot for stating the obvious, especially since they knew we had all read each other's files. Instead her eyes flicked over to an empty side of the room, where a wooden chair resided, unused. I hadn't noticed it before, but now I wondered why she hadn't taken it. Until she smiled at the chair, and looked back at me kindly, nodding her head. That was when I suddenly got chills, and had I been in cat form, my hackles would have risen. I looked over at the chair uncomfortably, like my instincts knew there was something there, but I couldn't see a thing. What really surprised me was Derek looking at me and nodded in understanding, "I feel her too, don't freak out." Daniel looked at me in concern.

"Maya, what's wrong?" I shivered and my hand started twitching.

"Ghost," and I fell to the floor, my bones shifting and cracking, much to my own horror, shifting and snapping like they never had before.

**Well, hi. SO, long time no see. Awkward A/N's are always fun, huh? No idea what to say about anything, beside sorry, don't kill me with a toothbrush, and rotten tomatoes are not allowed in the auditorium. I hope there are enough people who still wish to enjoy this story, as slow as it is, and will be. It's fun to write, and I'm enjoying the process, as slow as it is, of writing this fic. **

**~Nevaeh**


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